The air at Santa Barbara must
have been very nourishing if your appetite was no better there
than here. Your strange 'sea-change' on that distant coast is still
marvellous to me."
"Mary can tell you how ravenous I usually am. I do not meet friends
every day from whom I have been separated so long."
"It is a very ordinary thing for me to meet 'friends,'" he replied,
_sotto voce_, "for I have many. I had hopes that I should meet one who
would be far more than a friend. I'm half inclined to go out to Santa
Barbara and see if my little sister Madge is not still there."
"Do you think me a fraud?"
"Oh, no, only so changed that I scarcely know how to get acquainted
with you."
"Even if I granted so much, which I do not, I might suggest that
one must be uninteresting indeed if she inspires no desire for
acquaintance. But such talk is absurd between us, Graydon."
"Of course it is. You are so changed for the better that I can
scarcely believe my eyes or ears, and my heart not at all. Of course
your wishes shall be my law, and my wishes will lead me to seek your
acquaintance with deep and undisguised interest. You see the trouble
with me is that I have not changed, and it will require a little time
for me to adapt myself to the new order of things.
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